To Be Free
by 4EverCharmed
Summary: Regina's past haunts her every day. A past full of adventure, freedom, love and sadness. A past full of loss and how she mourns for her blonde friend and lover. A girl who never wanted to grow up and now never will. Thanks to Neverland. (Teen/Adult SwanQueen)
1. Chapter 1

**Author's note:**

I had this idea for ages and decided to finally type it out. I am trying to work on my other fics and I apologise for the lack of updates. This is down to lack of ideas, bad comments and a lot of deleting then rewriting! I hope for those who have stuck with my fics will enjoy this one as it is different from the usual onesI write and I do already have lots of ideas and twists like the previous fics I have managed to complete!

The first chapter has a small incite to what has happened and how everything came about, plus where they are now. Chapter 2 will be the past and I will alternate through past and present with each chapter so you will get teen/adult Emma and Regina. Let me know what you guys think! :)

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**Chapter 1**  
_  
"Emma!"_

_Regina's voice broke as petrified eyes watched the blonde run for her life. Emma ran towards the scared looking brunette who stood besides the ever spiralling portal that was moments away from pulling Regina through which would then close the gateway leaving Emma alone. Something which the blonde grew to hate and fear once the young brunette was by her side. She couldn't be alone again and nor could Regina._

_Finally reaching out at arm's length, the brunette grabs at the blonde's hand who grips the girl's hand so hard, she ends up digging her nails hard into the back of Regina's hand as she was desperate to hang on. As the young brunette steps back towards the crackling portal, Emma then felt ghost like hands take their place onto her shoulders and yank her back, physically pulling her away from Regina and releasing her grip. "No! Regina!"_

_As the force of the pull was so sudden, the brunette ends up losing her balance and falls back into the flashing light with a scream which echoes through the gap until the light dims and the portal ceases to exist._

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It had been five years since she had seen her Emma. Five years that took her from a sad and forgotten teen to a lonely, broken adult. Staring through the large wooden looking glass in front of her, Regina took a deep breath in an attempt to push the past and her pain back inside of her. After her devastating adventure, the brunette had found herself back home. If you could call it that. She was now back in the Enchanted forest, back to the beginning as if nothing had ever happened. Except it had but her mother Cora was determined to keep that part of her life a secret. If anyone was to ask, she simple stayed with a relative for few weeks. Regina scoffed at the thought, _a few weeks_. For the brunette, it had been close to a year as time appeared different there, not that anything ever changed because no one grew up there. If she had the choice, for Emma, she would have stayed but that was not the orginal plan, the plan was for them to both leave, to return to the forest and be together. Grow old together. Now she was to grow old and alone, while the blonde would spend the rest of eternity young and alone.

Being alone was what was always feared most and for now despite all that had happened that was what both of them were. Finding each other was supposed to change it. Peter Pan however had other ideas.

Neverland wasn't a place to fall in love, it was a place for children to be young and free, to never experience those type of feelings. Mature, _adult_, feelings that Pan always thought of as an end to his existence. Technically, the teens should not have been there to begin with. Emma arrived first after setting herself free of an orphanage. She had witnessed Pan's shadow do its work and as she was just seventeen, she was still classed as a child and Pan relished on the fact that she yearned to be free forever and knew he could use her to his advantage before ordering his shadow to collect her.

As for Regina, she too wanted to escape but unlike Emma, she had parents. Her father who she loved dearly, grew sick and died. Her mother, well she never wanted to truly know her daughter since the day she was born and learned to ignore her as the brunette grew up leaving her childhood behind and enter her teens. The only time her mother would speak to her was if she wanted something done or had some kind of remark she wanted to express to the girl purely to hurt her.

Regina was her slave.

After hearing stories at the market in the heart of the kingdom, the brunette found herself curious as to what this _Neverland_ was like. If it was as freeing and exciting as the children had made out it to be. What she was not aware of was that once a child was chosen, he or she did not always get to return home but be held on the island as part of the 'Lost Boys'. From that day, as soon as the sun was set and the moon would appear, Regina was sit at her window within her room and wait. Wait for her escape while praying and wishing upon the brightest star for the shadow to come. To take her to a new life where she could be herself with no one there to judge.

Being broken out of her thoughts which often clouded her mind, Regina turns to see her mother standing within her bedroom doorway, an unimpressed look spread across her face.

"Regina dear you must stop this daydreaming nonsense, it's becoming a nasty habit and is not ladylike at all"

Sighing, the brunette swallows the lump that had been lodged in her throat since she had changed to her nightgown. "Yes mother.."

"I want you fully rested from tomorrow. We are to attend a ball at the castle and hopefully find you a decent enough suitor..which in all honesty is going to be very difficult as you are now twenty three. Regina you have not even tried to get along with those I had set up for you and you know within the kingdom the rightful age for marriage is twenty one"

Looking down to hide herself from her mother's disappointed tone, Regina bites her lip. "I know mother..I will try harder.."

Cora smirks to herself and approaches her daughter, lifting the woman's chin with her forefinger. "I know you will my dear because you know what will happen if not..goodnight" pressing a kiss to the brunette's head, the older woman leaves.

Regina cringes at the contact then watches her mother leave her behind. Turning towards her bed sadly, the brunette climbs in and plumps her pillows. Laying down onto her side, she rests her hand under her head as she glances across the darkened room now only lit by a candle and towards her window. Her window that now has a barrier across the seal to prevent her from opening it up. Despite her age she had still seen Pan's shadow circle the sky these past few years and on the odd occasion, she was tempted to scream out to take her back. Cora unbeknown to her, knew of her daughters wishes and produced the ugly prison bars across the transparent glass. Not only did it prevent Regina opening it, it prevented light that the woman craved to see. Out of all the reasons that she despised, there was one reason that she hated the most.

It prevented her from going back to Neverland.


	2. Chapter 2

_Sorry for the delay, I done the stupid thing of deleting all my files and had to start over!_

**Chapter 2 **

"New arrival!"

Being thrown down to the gravelly sand below her, Regina lands with a thud straight onto her front. Lifting her head to take in her new surroundings, the brunette slowly rises to her knees while readjusting her cloak that she was yanked from so brutally by the shadow and then the messenger who brought her down to the empty clearing she was now sat in.

Pan walks out from behind a tree and takes in the sight before him. Shaking his head he sighs frustrated. "No! Not good enough! Does she look like a child to you?! We already have one girl here!"

Having been walking back to base with a couple of lost boys, Emma frowns hearing Pan's anger and heads into his direction as the boys continue on their journey.

"Take her back! Useless!"

Catching a glimpse of a dark braid, Emma runs forward. "Wait!"

Pan looks across his shoulder at the blonde intruding on his business. "Get back to camp Emma"

Emma stands still, looking in the fellow teen's direction. When the brunette looks up at her, the blonde hitches her breath as the sight of the girl's sad eyes takes over her senses. "No. Listen we could use her...you allowed me to stay so long as I kept an eye on the boys..and now? You keep getting more, I can't deal with them all on my own! Let her stay she can take the south side.."

Felix, Pan's right hand boy stepped forward from behind the brunette girl he dropped on the ground. "I hate to say it, I think she's right..the more boys, the less control you'll have..you need more on your side"

Looking between the trio, Pan eventually nods in agreement. "Fine. Get up"

Regina stands slowly not taking her eyes off Emma and grunts when Felix grabs her once again by her collar. _'Freedom? What freedom?'_

"Woah woah! Easy Felix..I can take her from here..." The blonde announces, holding her hands out defensively, not liking one bit how the poor brunette is being handled.

Giving the girl a slight push towards Emma, the tall lost boy glares at her, prompting her to glare back before gesturing for Regina to follow her. Walking behind the blonde quietly, the young brunette takes in her surroundings warily. Picking up on the newcomers slow pace, Emma stands to a halt causing Regina to walk straight into her. On instinct, the blonde reaches out and takes hold of the girl's upper arms to prevent a collision. Taking in the brunette's lost expression, Emma raises an eyebrow to question. "Missing home already?"

Without hesitation, Regina shakes her head avoiding the blonde's gaze. "No. Nothing to miss..." Giving a small shrug, the brunette finally looks up to Emma. "it's just different here to what I expected.."

Looking intrigued, Emma bites her lip. "Well, what did you expect?"

Taking a breath, Regina chuckles at the idiocy of her thoughts. "Freedom..."

Glancing away briefly, understanding, the blonde gulps silently at the awkwardness of it all. "Its..not...that bad here...I mean Pan is in charge and there are no specific rules but...I would say being here is less...freedom, more...lost"

"Oh.." Fiddling with her hands, the brunette looks down. "I've never known what it is like to not be lost so..it's no different being here or there"

Emma looks sad and then continues to walk encouraging Regina to do the same. After some time without a word being uttered, the blonde stops below a tree. "Do you have any family at home?"

"Depends..define _family_" Seeing the blonde grimace, the young woman continues. "I do...however they would not notice nor care that I'm gone. I had a father but he died when I was small and I have a mother, if you could call her that. She only cares for money and high status..and to her, I'm not her daughter but merely a servant girl"

Emma raises an eyebrow with a smirk. "You're a real Cinderella aren't you?"

Regina looks over letting out a care free laugh which the blonde finds refreshing and amazing to hear. "Hardly, I am much more confident and headstrong than_ that_ girl"

Crossing her arms. Emma looks her over. "True, but I can also sense a softer, kinder side to you"

"That may be, but it will take a lot for you to _see_ it"

Smiling over at the brunette, the blonde gives a carefree shrug before pointing up. "This is where you will stay.."

Following Emma's direction, Regina looks in awe of the cosy looking tree house made for one, possibly two. "Thank you"

Nodding in response, the blonde looks around the jungle life. "If you are going to..be here, you will need to work. Basically do what I do and well, mother the immature boys that live on the island. However not all of them are bad"

"Oh..right well..I'll try but like I said my mother wasn't a great role model so..I am unsure whether I am maternal or not. Can I ask, why is this island so important? why do all the children want to come here so badly?"

"You never grow up? Simple as that, which means you and I will be teens forever"

Gulping silently, Regina wonders if she has made a mistake now that she is here and the idea of never growing up and having a loved one starts to sink in. "I guess..we are lucky to have one another then.."

Emma cannot help but smile at the comment . "I guess so, can I ask your name?"

the brunette nods. "Regina.."

"well _Regina_..I will see you later..it's getting late"

Pursing her lips, the brunette glances back up at her new home. "Okay..see you in the morning..Emma"

Walking away slowly not really wanting to leave the new girl alone, the blonde stops in her step as she reaches the edge of the small clearing and looks back over as Regina mounts the ladder to the tree house warily. Biting her lip with a small grin, Emma waits until the brunette disappears from sight then carries on to her own tree house not feeling as alone anymore.

_A/N: still continue?__  
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End file.
